8 April 2021
Consultancy firm Genesis Biomed, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has signed a collaboration agreement with REGIC, the network of clinical research managers in Spain.
Genesis Biomed specialises in guidance and investment for startups and spinoffs in the healthcare sector (biotechnology, medical devices and digital health).
“To advance biomedical research, it is essential to share experiences and create spaces for collaboration. If there is one thing we’ve learned over these years, it is the value of shared information and that is why we believe that collaborating with REGIC will bring value added to our clients,” notes Josep Lluís Falcó, founder ...
30 March 2021
Vytrus Biotech, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, will introduce its cosmetics active ingredients in India, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay after signing two distribution deals with Nano Tech Chemical Brothers and Blumos Group.
“The Indian cosmetics market is opening up to new concepts and technology and the one from Vytrus is a good fit thanks to its sustainability and focus on plant-based products,” explains Business Development Manager Daniel Robustillo.
The Latin-American market is a big step forward in international expansion for Vytrus, which will now be present in over 54 countries (70% of the company’s sales).
Vytrus is one of ...
29 March 2021
IOMED, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has presented its new Compass interface that allows users to consult and get access to Real World Medical data instantly, with information from the medical histories of 3.5 million patients.
Users can filter their search with several demographic and clinical criteria (diagnoses, procedures, active ingredients, remarks or appointment details) for groups of patients or hospital centres. The data is obtained on aggregate, applying very strict security and privacy criteria. The data always remains with the hospital.
Compass aims to help accelerate clinical research in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.
In this video, IOMED ...
26 March 2021
Inbrain Neuroelectronics, a spin-off of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) and ICREA, has raised €14.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Asabys Partners and Alta Life Sciences and joined by the Centre for Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), Catalan Finance Institute (ICF) and international investors Vsquared Ventures and TruVenturo GmbH.
Inbrain is developing graphene-based neuroelectronic therapies for patients with epilepsy, Parkinson and other brain related disorders. Specifically, the company is developing a less-invasive smart neural system, driven by artificial intelligence and big data, that will be able to read and modulate brain activity ...
25 March 2021
Inveready, a venture capital management firm and CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has registered a €20-million fund called Inveready Alternative Markets (ALMA) with the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) to invest in alternative markets in Europe.
The new vehicle will invest between €1 million and €2 million in companies traded on the BME Growth, Euronext Growth, AIM Italia and AIM London markets.
Inveready is the main institutional investor in success stories such as Atrys Health, MásMóvil, Gigas Hosting, VozTelecom and Agile Content.
Photo: Rubén González, director of the new fund ALMA - © Inveready
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25 March 2021
Catalan biopharmaceutical firm Mitelos, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has signed a deal with Biolab Pharma to commercialise its Otiblock® spray in Brazil.
Otiblock® is an innovative therapeutic solution that eliminates earwax while maintaining proper pH levels thanks to its oil-free formulation. Otiblock® is particularly beneficial to people prone to relapse, such as those with narrow ear canals or who use hearing aids or earphones.
"We are selling Otiblock® in 12 countries and we plan to launch the product in three more. Our priority is to find distributors in France, Germany, Turkey and Scandinavia," explains Joaquim ...
24 March 2021
Biotechnology start-up Gain Therapeutics Inc. has begun trading on Nasdaq (New York) with the symbol “GANX” and an initial public offering of 3,636,364 shares at $11 each.
BTIG, LLC and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. are serving as book-running managers for the offering and National Securities Corporation as co-manager.
Gain Therapeutics is developing new-generation pharmacological chaperones to treat rare diseases using proprietary SEE-Tx® technology (from Catalan firm Minoryx Therapeutics). Its pipeline covers five active programmes, including GM1 gangliosidosis, Gaucher disease, Parkinson, Mucopolysaccharidosis type 1 and Krabbe disease.
The company, founded in 2018, is based in Lugano ...
22 March 2021
In a year made difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic, the health and life sciences sector in Catalonia reached an exceptional milestone. In 2020, startups in the BioRegion managed to raise €226 million in investment, the most ever, doubling in just two years from €112 million in 2018.
The main source of this funding was venture capital, with a total of €140 million. There were 41 operations in total, up 58% from 2019. This data is from the final version of the “Investment in startups” chapter of the BioRegion of Catalonia Life Sciences and Healthcare Outlook 2020 - Challenges Ahead, presented ...
18 March 2021
Ten Catalan companies that develop innovative solutions for healthcare have been selected to participate in Phase II of BIOMED ScaleUP's first edition. This is the corporate programme promoted by CataloniaBio & HealthTech with collaboration from Lead To Change and support from ACCIÓ (Government of Catalonia).
AYO: designs, manufactures and markets smart medical devices. Since 2017, AYO, a wearable device based on blue light therapy, has been on the market, helping to improve sleep quality and performance (used by top athletes such as Novak Djokovic).Kiversal: designs, manufactures and markets interconnectable medical devices using IoT technology. Its first product is ...11 March 2021
Aelix Therapeutics, a spin-off of HIVACAT and CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has published positive results of the HIV therapeutic vaccine in Phase I/IIa clinical trial. The virus remained under control for 6 months without treatment in 40% of those vaccinated. Yesterday, the scientific team explained the results at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2021, one of the most important international congresses on AIDS.
The AELIX-002 study is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to assess the vaccine's safety, tolerability, immunogenicity and antiviral effect. It took place at a single centre in the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital ...
10 March 2021
Aortyx, a spin-off of Institut Químic de Sarrià and Hospital Clinic Barcelona, is launching a crowdequity round to raise €1.6 million through the Capital Cell platform. The funds will go towards clinical trials on an innovative patch to treat aortic dissections. Both Aortyx and Capital Cell are CataloniaBio & HealthTech members.
The patch Aortyx has designed is bioresorbable and sticks to the damaged artery to promote healing, tissue regeneration and full recovery from the injury.
Aortic dissection occurs in 1 out of 10,000 patients each year and the mortality rate can be up to 50%, depending on the ...
8 March 2021
The consultancy Linking Innovations, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has launched a new website dedicated to its field of expertise, the clinical engineering and electromedicine services it provides to companies in the healthcare sector. The website has been launched together with a new corporate image.
Linking Innovations was founded in 2013 by Toni Miró, an engineer with more than 45 years under his belt in the development and industrialisation of in vitro diagnostic products and medical devices. Over the years, Linking has supported the industrialisation and manufacturing of innovative ideas for companies such as Dentaid, Devicare, NEOS Surgery, New Born ...
4 March 2021
Drug Development & Regulation (DDR), a scientific and regulatory affairs consultancy firm and CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has opened new offices in Amsterdam, next to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). DDR also has offices in Barcelona and London.
With this physical presence in the Netherlands, DDR is reaffirming its commitment to meeting regularly with the EMA face-to-face.
DDR was set up in 2012 by Xavier Luria, an international expert in clinical development of drugs and medical devices and EMA head of Safety and Efficacy of Medicines for seven years.
Photo: Xavier Luria - © DDR
2 March 2021
CataloniaBio & HealthTech members have given the green light to the Strategic Plan 2021-2023, which establishes the roadmap to consolidate the organisation and help the push to grow companies in the biomedicine and healthcare sector in Catalonia in size and projection over the next three years.
This strategic plan is the result of months of reflection and working with companies and stakeholders in the ecosystem, carried out by LTC consultancy led by Xavier Marcet. The plan was presented today at the general assembly, explaining that CataloniaBio & HealthTech will work on four strategic focal points:
Strengthening the communityPromoting a ...1 March 2021
VB Devices, a start-up and CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has closed a €1.06 million round of funding on the Capital Cell platform. The funds will go towards commercialising the new CrabClamp® and Varixio® devices in Europe. Their goal for the round was to raise €850,000.
Founded in 2016 by vascular surgeon Enric Roche and executive Federico Grego, VB Devices creates devices that improve current techniques in vascular surgery.
VB Devices’ business model is based on developing innovative, patentable solutions, outsourcing manufacturing locally, and commercialising the products globally through exclusive distributors and directly in closer markets like Spain ...
1 March 2021
Almirall, a pharmaceutical company and CataloniaBio & HealthTech member based in Barcelona, has appointed Gianfranco Nazzi as its new CEO, taking over for Peter Guenter. He will officially join the company on 1 May.
Nazzi has a degree in Economics and Banking from the University of Udine (Italy). He had been headhunted by Almirall from Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, where he was executive vice-president for foreign markets and a member of the executive board. Previously, he has also held positions of responsibility at AstraZeneca, GSK and Eli Lilly.
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SocialDiabetes, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has signed a deal with French medical device company Biocorp to integrate the Mallya insulin pen into its telehealth platform.
This means patients with diabetes who use this pen will be able to control their insulin doses themselves, and get personalised recommendations. The clinical data for each patient is monitored on the platform, which uses artificial intelligence and big data, for healthcare professionals to consult and follow up.
Currently, more than 250,000 patients in Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Chile use the Catalan firm platform. The deal with Biocorp will open up ...
23 February 2021
Ambit BST-CSV Experts, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, and EudaMed have signed a strategic alliance to train companies developing medical devices and technology on the EUDAMED database from the European Commission.
The agreement comes at a time of significant regulatory change in the sector. EUDAMED is one of the new initiatives that bring a very ambitious approach to Europe for the traceability, clinical evaluation and medical product monitoring, as well as company inspections in the sector.
The training course on EUDAMED, an European database of mandatory compliance for healthcare and IVD products will take place on 17 and ...
11 February 2021
Multinational biotech company Amgen, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has appointed Miquel Balcells medical director of Amgen Iberia, based in Barcelona.
Amgen has 73 clinical trials under way in Spain and Portugal in therapeutic areas like oncology, cardiology, inflammation and nephrology.
Balcells joined Amgen Iberia in 2006 as medical head of oncology and haematology. He has had a key role in making these units a benchmark, as well as boosting collaboration in innovative programmes in hospitals.
Photo: Miquel Balcells - PM Farma
11 February 2021
Asian biopharmaceutical firm SeriTech Co Ltd will set up its European subsidiary in Barcelona from the second quarter of 2021.
SeriTech Co Ltd specialises in extracting natural silk proteins, which have been scientifically proven for biomedical, therapeutic and cosmetic uses (biocompatibility with cardiac tissue, cardiovascular grafts, Alzheimer treatments, vaccines, etc.). They have also developed innovative transdermal delivery technology using microneedling.
One of the company’s first steps here has been to join CataloniaBio & HealthTech: “It is a highly active cluster, where we hope to broaden our alliances with companies in Catalonia, particularly in the field of biomedical drugs,” explains ...